I am an NSF Astronomy and Astrophysics Postdoctoral Fellow, currently at the University of Texas at Austin since September 2023. I work with Prof. Adam Kraus on exploring the role of stellar birth environment on the formation and evolution of stellar and sub-stellar multiple systems. As a part of this program, we will characterize the multiplicity of diverse young star-forming regions within the Orion Complex, particularly the Orion Nebula Cluster, Orion OB1a and OB1b, and NGC 2024. To date, we have observed dozens of stars in the Orion OB1a and OB1b with both the Keck Observatory and Gemini Observatories. In addition, my role on the JWST/NIRCam Science team includes the characterization of the NGC 2024 star-forming region where I will also probe its multiplicity down to planetary masses. We plan to have significant results in these three regions as soon as the end of 2024.

Originally from Tampa, Florida, I graduated Summa cum Laude from the University of Florida in the fall of 2016 with a B.S. in Physics and Astronomy as well as a minor in Mathematics. The following year, I entered the Astronomy and Astrophysics PhD program at the University of Michigan where I received an M.S. in 2019 completed my PhD in August 2023.

As an undergraduate at the University of Florida, I worked with Prof. Elizabeth Lada and Dr. Naibi Marinas to characterize the circumstellar disk population of low-mass stars and brown dwarfs in young star-forming regions using FLAMINGOS spectroscopy and Spitzer photometry. Additionally, I joined the biophysics laboratory of Prof. Stephen Hagen where I worked for two years studying the effects of oxidative stress on the genetic competence network of Streptococcus mutans, published here in 2017.

As a graduate student at the University of Michigan, I worked with Prof. Michael Meyer on the characterization of the low-mass stellar and sub-stellar binary populations of the Orion Nebula Cluster (ONC), using the Hubble Space Telescope (HST). We developed and implemented a double-PSF fitting algorithm using empirical PSFs that can detect companions at separations below the diffraction limit on the Advanced Camera for Surveys. As a part of this program, we have published three papers exploring the low-mass stellar and sub-stellar binary population of the ONC. We are currently working on many projects that implement this method using HST, including Cycle 30 and 31 programs that explore the multiplicity of NGC 1333 and nearby brown dwarfs in the Galactic field.

In addition to my research in star-forming regions, I also study the close companion population of intermediate mass A-type stars within 75 pc using the MIRC-X and MYSTIC instruments on the Center for High Angular Resolution Astronomy (CHARA) interferometric array. With baselines as long as 331m, we can directly detect companions at separations down to 0.5 milli-arcseconds. We were awarded 2 nights through NSF’s NOIRLab in 2020B to search for companions between ~ 0.1-10 AU, and published the results in 2022. We were then awarded 4 nights through the CHARA consortium, sponsored by Prof. John Monnier, to expand this survey to more sources in 2022A, and are currently preparing these results for publication.

To learn more about my work and the publications to come soon, check out the “Research” tab at the top of the page.